K'jipuktuk (Halifax) – Inside the temporarily fortified Westin Hotel, on Halifax's waterfront, members of NATO and their hangers-on laid plans in private sessions, as the fourth annual Halifax International Security Forum entered its second day.

The forum, whose few public sessions include such titles as "Automated or Automatic? Cyber, Drones and the Consequences of Modern Warfare" and "The Good Guys? The Special Burden of Democratic Nations," is one of the world's premier global military head-to-heads, and draws in representatives from NATO, its allies, its capitulating media and its think-tanks, among others.

Outside, close to 200 people gathered under the shadow of Edward Cornwallis's statue – himself an 18th century war-monger reknowned for issuing scalping proclamations against the Mi'kmaq people, including women and children – to protest both the taxpayer-funded forum (revealed in an Access to Information request to have cost Canadians over $3 million for the two-and-a-half day affair), and Israel's latest military attack on the populace of Gaza, where Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer reports that as of Nov. 17 at least 23 Palestinians have died in the most recent round of violence.

For an in-depth analysis of the Halifax International Security Forum, please check out Tony Seed's recent post.